Scott Threlkeld/The Times-PicayuneArizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner is sandwiched by New Orleans Saints defensive end Will Smith, left, and defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis. Warner, who also took a vicious hit from end Bobby McCray after Smith's interception, said he will contemplate retirement during the offseason.For a moment, it appeared Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner's probable Hall of Fame career -- along with his team's best shot at advancing in the playoffs -- might have ended Saturday before the first half did, in a 45-14 loss to the New Orleans Saints.

With 5:58 remaining before halftime, Warner threw a dink pass to the right side that Saints defensive end Will Smith intercepted. Warner was running toward Smith in somewhat less than convincing fashion when he was blindsided by a block by Saints end Bobby McCray. It was a vicious but clean hit that sent Warner sprawling.

After a few minutes lying on the turf, Warner sat up and eventually walked off the field without assistance. But moments later, it was announced he had suffered a chest injury and that his return was questionable.

Warner returned in the second half, but by that time the Saints led 35-14 and it seemed clear Arizona would need some sort of miracle beyond even a quarterback as accomplished as him.

"He hit me pretty good, " Warner conceded later. "You get that initial wind knocked out of you there and you kind of panic, you can't move, you can't breathe. It hurts when I breathe."

Saints safety Darren Sharper said he saw the blow "up close and personal" and that the importance of it was clear right away.

"I told Bobby that was maybe the game-changing play, " Sharper said. "That was what we wanted to do was get after the quarterback."

Halftime X-rays were negative, Warner said. He also said the ferocious block would have no impact on whether he retires after a career in which he played in three Super Bowls, won one, and claimed two league MVP awards.

"Anytime you take a hit like that it makes you think twice about playing this game, " he said, laughing. "But something like that, or even this game, will not be the determining factor on my decision."

McCray spoke with Warner for a moment on the field after the game, and both men were smiling.

"He did come up to me after the game and said he would say a prayer for me, " Warner said. "He just wanted to make sure I was OK. That was cool."

Even before Warner went down, injuries clipped the Cardinals. Starting cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie went down with a knee injury and safety Antrel Rolle left with a concussion in the first quarter.

Quarterback Drew Brees said the Saints took note of those departures and immediately set about exploiting them, a thing Cardinals Coach Ken Whisenhunt said was done with devastating effect.

Whisenhunt carefully stepped around excuses, and said more than once the deciding factor Saturday was the superior play of the Saints in every aspect of the game. He noted that the Cardinals had run into two high-octane offenses in the playoffs and faced them at less than full strength.

In addition to the injuries suffered by Rodgers-Cromartie and Rolle, the Cardinals scratched starting inside linebacker Gerald Hayes from the lineup before the opening kickoff because of a nicked knee.

In many ways, the defensive losses proved more fateful than the absence of wide receiver Anquan Boldin, who missed the playoffs with ankle and knee issues.

"We played with a depleted secondary today, and they exploited those matchups, " Whisenhunt said. "That was pretty obvious."

With a less-experienced defensive backfield, Whisenhunt said, the Cardinals faced a diabolical choice: try to blitz Brees and leave his backups in single coverage, or drop more people into the defensive backfield and hope Brees didn't carve them up.

"When you lose two of your defensive starters who are really good players early in the game, then you run the risk you are going to expose the guys in there, " he said. "So that's a cat-and-mouse game you have to play, and he's a very good quarterback, and obviously we didn't have success."

Eliot Kamenitz/The Times-PicayuneLSU connection: New Orleans Saints cornerback Randall Gay hangs on to Arizona Cardinals receiver Early Doucet to bring him down in the thirrd quarter Saturday at the Superdome.Early rising: With Boldin out, the Cardinals turned, as they did against the Packers in their first playoff game, to former LSU standout Early Doucet and Michigan product Steve Breaston to pick up the slack.

And as he did against the Packers, Doucet played well, leading the Cardinals with eight catches for 68 yards.

The problem, Doucet noted afterward, was the Saints' explosive start meant the Cardinals were playing catch-up and thus could not mount a balanced offense.

"We never really got a chance to get into rhythm, " he said. "And they made some big stops, and offensively they got good field position and just capitalized."

Like Whisenhunt, Doucet pointed to an early turnover by the Cardinals as a key turning point. After jumping to a 7-0 lead on the first play from scrimmage -- a 70-yard run by Tim Hightower -- the Cardinals allowed the Saints to go 72 yards in 10 plays to tie the score.

On their next snap, Warner hit wide receiver Jerheme Urban for a 28-yard gain to midfield. But Urban fumbled, Sharper recovered, and soon the Saints had a 14-7 lead they did not relinquish.

"Anytime you have turnovers in a game of this magnitude it's going to be a big part, a factor in who wins and loses, and you don't want to be that team that has the turnovers, " Doucet said. "We had them tonight, and we didn't get the win."

But Doucet, again like his coach, also acknowledged that one play was more of a momentum swing than a game-changer. The Saints, he said, flat out beat the Cardinals.

"We were kind of one-dimensional, " Doucet said. "But, like I said before, they made more plays than we did and they got the win."

James Varney can be reached at jvarney@timespicayune.com or 504.717.1156.